More of Christ Less of Me

A Time of Reminders

A few days after I drafted this post, I saw the featured image on FB!! Confirmation!! Felt led to finally post this today! Working behind the scenes isn’t always easy – especially when we don’t see ‘progress’ in the way we would like to. We ourselves forget what we have done as it’s not in our face and likewise, or even moreso, onlookers think you aren’t doing anything or achieving anything.. It’s so easy to get discouraged and begin to listen and even believe the lies of the enemy. This is often sadly through the ones we love the most. It’s even harder when these very loved ones push you aside themselves having believed the enemy. It just takes a moment of being disheartened when the enemy brings about a magnifying glass to see ‘there there no one loves you.. see all those people are friends and they don’t talk to you.. see you are the one in the wrong, you are the failure, you are the bad person.. you are the one making all the mistakes.. ” the enemy loves to keep rattling on and on.

I love the time of quietness and have indeed been seeing how privileged I am that like Jehioachin, I can put aside the prison clothes of the world’s rat race and sit at the King’s Table – sit at His Feet, soak in His love, surrender to His restoration process of me, lap up His revelation, accept His grace through the work of Christ on the cross and be led by the Holy Spirit along the narrow path. As much as it brings great joy to the spiritual part of me, my fleshly side often feels low as I often can see ‘no tangible output’, the natural often remains unchanged in my view – despite the spiritual view being strengthened.

Yet these last few weeks, I can see as much as I have been having incredible spiritual encounters and sharpened gifting, I can also see how God has been delighting in encouraging me by reminding me of the fruit of my surrender of not knowing what I was doing or why.. child like faith!!

Recently I wrote the blog https://priyanthiv.wordpress.com/2017/05/02/at-the-kings-table/. God had spoken the verse as a Rhema word to me around 2002, I had no idea what this word meant but my spirit had quickened at the time despite being a new Christian. I had embraced it, accepted it and buried it in my heart. Little did I know then that He would lead me into missions and that first to Sri Lanka… little did I know about 4 years later I would embark on the life of faith, learning to depend on Him as my all in all.. Initially I was a ‘wreck’ but God carried me through and I began to see how much I have been changing. Now the Rhema word of 2002 makes sense to me pretty much word to word – as a prophesy of what was to come. God reminded me through this that yes, He is leading me step by step and He is using every step for His glory.

Another series of steps that didn’t feel like I was doing much each step of the way ended up being pieces of a larger jigsaw puzzle where it was completed recently. In 2011, God led me to participate in a Christian magazine training program in India (my 3rd trip to India – the previous two were missions trips). A new contact there invited me to speak at a youth camp in another part of India. Those two consecutive camps led to many one on one ministries with many friendships being formed. Being a friend to people one on one really doesn’t seem like ‘ministry’ at all. The following year I dared to respond to God’s nudging to go to yet another city which I wrote about in the blog, https://priyanthiv.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/soaring-above-it-all/. Seeing the recent update of that godly young guy made me realise how much God had moved – it encouraged me to persevere.

Little would I have known when preparing for my Homiletics (preaching) assignment for my M.Div. that that sermon was ever going to be used again, let alone going to be the answer to a young guy’s question – a guy whom I never knew existed at that time, a guy who was miles away and across the ocean!

Other ministries linking from the series above continue as well.. and I can see many doors being slightly ajar but just waiting for God’s time for the provision and for His Will too to open widely.

I’m just wanting to leave a word of encouragement for those in the same boat, who are persevering in Him, delighting in Him but not ‘seeing’ results or progress in the natural realm:

Do not be despaired as what seems like coal but if God is leading you to the coal trust Him that He will transform the coal of your obedience into the everlasting fruit to bring Him the diamond glory!